Ketchuppp Promotes More Real-Life Interaction Among Friends

One Dutch startup believes that social media is killing real-life relationships. Do you remember the time when maintaining relationships did not involve accepting friend requests on social networks and having conversations through screens? Created to encourage friends to meet up and spend time together more often in the real world, Ketchuppp is a mobile app that notifies you whenever a friend is nearby so you can “Ketchuppp.” Get it?

Available on the App Store and Google Play for free for a limited time, Ketchuppp helps you meet up with people you actually know and like. It's not an app for making new friends or business connections; it can only be used with the people who are already in your phone's contact list. Ketchuppp works by running GPS tracking in the background. You get an alert when a buddy is nearby, but your actual location is never broadcast to anyone. When both people agree to meet up, the app suggests a list of cafes and restaurants within the vicinity where you can catch up.

You can also control the distance setting, so how close a friend needs to be before the app shoots out a notification is up to you. In addition, there are three visibility settings that let you socialize or lurk as much as you want. Online, the default setting, means your buddies will be alerted if you're within the same area. In hidden mode, you'll still be notified about your friends' locations but not the other way around. If you're offline, no notifications will be sent or received.

Since launching this past August, Ketchuppp has attracted about 3,500 to 4,000 active users. And according to the startup, that figure is increasing daily. Ketchuppp is self-funded by its founders, who also own a social media consulting and concept development company, and DayLike, the app's developer.